For years, the Huskers headed onto the field to the Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius,” emerging from the tunnel under North Stadium to sprint across the turf while the Cornhusker Marching Band played “Hail Varsity.”

For the first four games of last season, however, “Sirius” took a backseat in the Tunnel Walk, replaced by songs from X Ambassadors, AC/DC, DJ Kool and DMX.

Then, for the fifth of eight opportunities — the Tunnel Walk got a do-over when the season opener against Akron was rained out — a remix of “Sirius” returned for the rest of the year.

So will “Sirius" be back when the Huskers face South Alabama on Saturday morning?

He did say there will be changes in the Tunnel Walk and pregame presentation — for the season and from game to game.

Those changes don’t happen on the spur of the moment. Planning for the 2019 Tunnel Walk began in April, bringing together the five members of the marketing and fan experience staffs, who run the gameday experience, HuskerVision and the band to work out the songs and video presentations for this season’s seven home games.

“Sometimes the football team is involved, too, for the early pregame music,” Meier said. “They’re picking the music that the guys want to warm up to.”

After the game starts, music fills the stadium during breaks in the action — sometimes coming from the band, sometimes blasting out of the public-address system.

That music is chosen based on some variables. For example, an on-field review would get a different musical selection from an injury timeout. If the timeout is scheduled by, say, the end of a quarter or after a punt, there's a script to be followed.

“We have a plan for each of those,” Meier said. “Even when there’s something on the field, we usually try to allow a minute or half-minute to play some music to get the crowd going.”

What is that music? And who decides when to play which song?

“We definitely have a playlist,” Meier said. “We try to mix it up a little, about 25% country, 25% classic rock and 25% newer music students want to listen to. Then there’s third-down music, to try to get the crowd going. Those are just little riffs, 20 seconds or so, to get the crowd pumped up. It can be Blackshirts with riffs or another video or just the riffs.”

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The decision of what to play at a given point of the game, beyond some early, scripted breaks and the pregame, is made by the fan experience script supervisor and the HuskerVision director, who sit next to each other in the press box and determine what songs or videos to play.

Songs that get the crowd pumped up include AC/DC/s “Thunderstruck,” and DJ Kool’s “Let Me Clear My Throat,” both which made Tunnel Walk appearances in 2018.

But beyond the school’s two fight songs, “Hail Varsity” and “Dear Old Nebraska U,” that are played by the band, there are no songs that have to be played at every game, Meier said.

This season, Meier said, fans will be able to choose one of the songs that will be played during a timeout. Three song choices will be presented on the video screens and fans can text their vote for the song they want to hear. The running total of votes will be projected on the screens, so fans can vote repeatedly for their favorite to try to get it played, Meier said.

After kickoff, the longest musical segment of any game comes at halftime. That musical selection is up to the band, which does a different show for each game.

Those performances are tightly rehearsed and coordinated with the fan experience and HuskerVision crew — so, for example, a song that’s going to come up during the halftime show doesn’t get pumped through the stadium’s P.A. system at a timeout just before the halftime break.

Presenting the in-game entertainment is a group effort that involves close to 100 people, from fan experience and HuskerVision staffs, to band directors and student assistants — most connected by radio to allow spur-of-the-moment changes in the script, depending on the game situation.

All that work, including the stadium’s giant video screens and ribbon boards, is aimed at three things, Meier said.

“I always preach to our staff: entertain, inform and inspire," he said. "To entertain the folks when the game isn’t being played, inform with the stats and other stuff, and inspire them at times to get out of their seats and support the team.

"To me, it’s kind of simple. If what we're doing doesn’t fit into one of those three buckets, we should be doing something else.”

Crazy Husker fans through the years

Larry the Cable Guy

Larry the Cable Guy poses with Kiss impersonators Steve Hernandez (from left), Brett Kay, Brett Gotch and Calvin Kramer, all from South Sioux City, on Oct. 31, 2009, at a game against Baylor in Waco, Texas.

Journal Star file photo

Letting loose

A group of Husker fans let loose during the Big 12 Championship Game at Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 4, 2010.

Journal Star file photo

JUST COOL IT

Nebraska fans Cody Siefker (left) and Corey Craig take a moment to cool down, take a break and vent some frustration at halftime during a game against Texas with Nebraska trailing 17-3 on Oct. 16, 2010, at Memorial Stadium.

Journal Star file photo

Fan in balloons

Nebraska freshman Brad Merritt makes his way though Memorial Stadium on Sept. 10, 2011, with balloons to sell to the Husker faithful.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Volleyball

The kill signs were out in force as Nebraska's Gina Mancuso got another one against Penn State at the NU Coliseum on Sept. 21, 2011.

Journal Star file photo

NU Fan Day, 8.18.18

A large inflatable of Herbie Husker dwarfs the large crowd on hand on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, during Fan Day at Memorial Stadium.

Cornhead

Fans

Nebraska fans try to fire up the team during the first quarter against Virginia Tech on Sept. 19, 2009, in Blacksburg, Va.

Journal Star file photo

2017 SPORTS YEAR END

Nebraska fan Aloise Ferris (left) of South Sioux City, Neb. got up out of her wheelchair and danced with Herbie Husker as the Cornhusker Marching Band played as they awaited the team's arrival at the East Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2017, at Memorial Stadium.

Natilly dressed fans

Fan solo

One Husker fan had all the right moves, just no one to watch him, as he danced up a storm during a first-half timeout at the Nebraska women's basketball game against Creighton on Nov. 17, 2008.

Journal Star file photo

BIRCH

Nebraska fan Aaron Birch cheers on the Huskers before the start of the Fiesta Bowl against Florida in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 2, 1996.

AP file photo

Nebraska vs. Illinois, 9/29/17

Nebraska fan Corey Nelson of Des Moines, Iowa, didn't last very long on a mechanical bull at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017.

ERIC GREGORY, Journal Star

Belly button

Chance Vadnas seems to enjoy getting his belly button painted by Pat Lane (left) as they prepare themselves for some serious fan support of the Huskers for their game against Texas Tech on Oct. 17, 2009, at Memorial Stadium. Nick Deeds paints the back side of Vadnas.

Journal Star file photo

Husker Fans, 10/05/2013

The athletic department will spend $12.3 million to improve the sound system and Wi-Fi connectivity inside Memorial Stadium.

MEGAN FARMER/Journal Star file photo

Corn cookout

Randy Johnson of Northville, Mich., has everything he needs as he prepares for Nebraska vs. Michigan at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 19, 2011.

ERIC GREGORY/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Ohio State vs. Nebraska, 1.21.2012

Red Zone fans show their displeasure at a call against the Huskers during a game against Ohio State at the Devaney Sports Center on Jan. 21, 2012.

Journal Star file photo

Suh

Nine-year-old Ryan Cooksley of Anselmo, Payden Borders, 10, from Broken Bow, and Griffin Wright, 8, also of Broken Bow, carry a message into Cowboys Stadium before the Big 12 Championship Game with Texas on Dec. 5, 2009, in Dallas.

ERIC GREGORY, Journal Star file photo

Crowd

Nebraska fans filled more than half of the east grandstand at Baylor's Floyd Casey Stadium on Oct. 31, 2009, in Waco, Texas.

Journal Star file photo

Waiting for tickets

David Hollingsworth of Omaha waits for his tickets to the Big 12 Championship Game at Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 4, 2010.

BOB PEARSON/For the Journal Star

Memorial Stadium

A fan throws up the bones in the student section in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium on Nov. 21, 2009.

Near the end of Lion Babe’s Lincoln Calling closing set Saturday, Jillian Hervey began to sway and swoop her hands back and forth, leading into “The Wave,” Lion Babe’s ‘70s funk infused R&B song of the summer.